As she ran to catch her train home -which was no small feat in those shoes- Jemma told herself she was really glad that she decided to go on this date with Milton after all. It had gone well beyond her expectations. She finally had an evening she could use as the ultimate reason to give to anyone for refusing to be fixed up on a blind date. Mostly to Skye actually, other people were never as insistant as she was and were able to take no for an answer. If she played her cards right, it might even earn her a few favors from her best friend, considering what a terrible night she's had because of her.

Once she was on board her train, she found a seat easily. It was quite late already so the train was mostly empty save for the usual Valentine's day crowd: a few well dressed smiling people who looked like they clearly had a better night than she had, the group of girls who decided to celebrate being single by going out and get drunk to forget that they were single, a few annoyingly happy looking couples and a few people who looked like they just had as bad a time as she had.

As she watched outside the window and saw that it was starting to snow, she reveled in the idea that she only had a ten minutes ride, a few minutes walk and then she would be home. She planned on kicking her heels the minute she got into her apartment and then she could watch the snow fall through the bathroom window as she relaxed into a scorching hot bath where she would probably fall asleep in less than five minutes.

As the train was nearing her stop, Jemma got up and went to the closest door. There was only one other person apparently getting off at her stop. He's had his back to her the whole ride so she hadn't noticed him until now. He was kind of cute with his really smart but a bit disheveled black suit. And he didn't even wear a coat or scarf when it was so cold outside. With his stubbled cheeks, curly blond hair and pretty blue eyes, he looked like someone out of a music video. Actually, as she discreetly looked at him once more, she decided that he was even a bit more than just cute.

"That's weird" Jemma thought as the train was getting into the station and it didn't feel like it was slowing down. And as she was ready to push the "open" button, the train got into the station and got out of it without stopping for a second.

"What the hell?" She said out loud just at the same time as the cute stranger.

Her head snapped towards him, startled both by their synchronicity and the stranger's strong Scottish accent. Even if her mind was currently mostly occupied by the fact that her nice hot bath was rapidly moving away from her, she couldn't help feeling a pang of nostalgia at the sound of his voice and her home sickness of late came crashing back to her for a second.

"The train was supposed to stop there right?" She asked him as she saw that he was obviously as surprised as she was. For a second, she thought she saw a bit of surprise in his eyes when he heard her own accent.

"Yes of course ... I'm a hundred percents positive that it was supposed to stop here" He said with an exasperated sigh as he leaned against the door.

"Oh okay because I had to run to catch it and honestly I'm no longer sure if I saw where this train was stopping ..." She said and it obviously made him think again.

"Well me too actually but I'm pretty sure I looked anyway ... I always look ... okay let's say I'm ninety percents sure ..." He said biting his lip, the look on his face contradicting his words and she couldn't help the small smile that tugged at her lips.

"... eighty percents at worst ..." He added after a few seconds and they both chuckled good-heartedly.

"Well at least it's the perfect end to a really perfect evening!" She said as she flopped back down onto the closest seat available.

"Bad date?" He asked with a small sympathetic smile as he sat facing her.

"What makes you think that?" She answered with an amused smile.

"Well you look all ... you know ... dressed up and-and ... pretty ..." He started, blushing slightly, which she found rather sweet. "And you were obviously being sarcastic so ..."

"Someone's smart ..." She said, her smile growing a bit bigger and he smiled back. "Smarter than stupid Milton anyway ..." She added in a very bad attempt at an american accent and he burst out laughing. He was even cuter when he laughed.

-0-0-0-

A few minutes later, as the train was nearing the next stop, they both got ready to get out once more and once more, the train didn't slow down and passed the station without stopping. They exchanged a desperate look and sighed in unison before going back to their seat.

"Do you, by any chance, remember if this train was supposed to stop somewhere else between our stop and the end of the line?" He asked flatly.

"I do not ..." She answered, shaking her head negatively.

"Yeah me neither ... But that's nice, I've actually never been this far down the line. Maybe I'll get to discover a nice new neighborhood, might get something interesting out this evening after all ..." He said, his accent getting even thicker than it was a minute ago and she couldn't help smiling at this. It actually felt nice hearing someone speak with an accent from home. And she felt a bit guilty about it, but it actually made her feel better to know that at least one person was having as bad an evening as she was.

"So bad date as well?" She asked with a small smile.

"What makes you think that?" He answered with a mischievous grin that told her she was obviously right but she still humored him.

"Well with the whole double O seven look ..." She said, making a vague gesture to point at his whole outfit. "... you're either a super spy or coming back from a date somewhere extra fancy. And since I don't remember James Bond having to ride the subway, well ..." She finished with a raised eyebrow and he sighed once more.

"Yeah and he never went on a blind date either ..." He said, rolling his eyes.

"So that bad?"

"Well you suggesting the suit makes me look like a super spy is actually the highlight of this evening ..." He said with a smirk.

"Ouch ..." She said tilting her head to the side in a sympathetic gesture.

"Have you ever been so bored that you started counting how many times someone said the same word?" He added, obviously needing to let out some steam after such a disappointing evening, which she totally understood. "Forty-two bloody times and not once correctly!" He added and she chuckled. He sounded like such a typical grumpy scotsman, which was a rather funny contrast to his otherwise angelic features and soft voice.

"I mean how hard is it to understand what literally actually means? Unless her heart really literally exploded when she saw how cute that baby was ... and in that case being annoying is the least of her problems!" He added and Jemma burst out laughing. For a few seconds, he tried to look at her with a reproachful look but her laugh was contagious and he soon didn't have a choice but to join her.

"Sorry for having a good laugh out of your misery but I've been bored out of my mind all evening and you really are quite funny!" She said with a small smile after a few minutes.

"'s alright. At least something good came out of it." He said, smiling back warmly.

"God, I'm starving ..." He said after a few minutes of companionable silence. "You know, I used to watch a lot of american shows growing up and the one thing that stuck with me was that they always serve huge portions in their restaurants. But apparently I managed to find the restaurant that serves the most ridiculously small portions in all of New York." He said pouting. And the way he looked like a child who'd just been denied sweets was kind of adorable. She was usually attracted to more "manly" men but he had a whole cute and sassy thing going on that she found quite endearing.

After a few second's hesitation, she opened her bag and fished an elegant golden cardboard box out of it. She untied the ribbon tied around it and opened the box. She took one of the chocolates that was in it and held out the box to the cute stranger, inviting him to take one as well with a raised eyebrow and a small smile. He looked at her in surprise for a few seconds before his lips curled up in a teasing grin.

"My mom always told me not to accept food from strangers ..." He said, his grin now getting wider. His intentions were written very clearly over his face but she actually didn't mind. So after gently rolling her eyes at him, she extended her hand to him.

"I'm Jemma Simmons, nice to meet you ..." She said for the second time this evening.

"Fitz ... I'm Leopold Fitz ... please call me Fitz!" He said as he quickly shook her hand before picking a chocolate out of her box and eating it with an appreciative smile.

"Nice to meet you Jemma" He added once he swallowed the chocolate. "And thank you!" He said with a warm smile and she held out the box to him once more. This time, he didn't have to be told twice.

-0-0-0-

They spent the next twenty five minutes engaged in the most pleasant small talk Fitz has had in a while. He'd never been good at it, as tonight's date proved it once more, but somehow the pretty stranger, Jemma, made it a lot easier. Maybe because her accent reminded him of home or maybe because she didn't seem put out by his slightly grumpy temper, if anything she apparently found it funny. Whatever the reason, these were the nicest twenty five minutes he's had that night - or even that day ... or week- and when he felt the train finally starting to slow down, he was almost disappointed because it meant that he would soon have to say goodbye.

"We're finally stopping!" He said as he got up from his seat and she followed him to the door. "Are you ready to run?" He asked with a big smile.

"To run?" She answered with a questioning look.

"Yeah, there's a train coming the other way, if we run, we might just be able to catch it and not wait god knows how long for the next one!" He said, getting ready to push the "open" button.

"That's a really good plan but if I run in those shoes, I will literally kill myself ..." She said with a small grin and he rolled her eyes at her, which made her laugh again. She really had a pretty laugh. "Okay, I will most likely break an ankle but still ..." She said with an apologetic smile.

After a second's hesitation, he offered his arm to her. "Just hang on to me then" He said with a timid smile.

"Noooo ... you should run, you'll be faster on your own, you have a better chance to catch it" She said, visibly hesitating so he thought it was okay to insist a bit.

"No really, it's alright. And I'm not gonna let a fellow countrywoman stranded here in what is probably ... a very nice neighborhood." He said wincing comically and she gracefully accepted his arm with a small knowing smile.

"Ready?" He asked as the train was finally getting to a stop.

"Ready!"

The second the doors unlocked, he pushed the "open" button and they got out. After a quick look on both sides, they saw that the stairs going down towards the exit and back up to the other platform were on the right so they started running. Jemma apparently did her best to run but in those shoes and with the snow that had started accumulating, she was less than graceful and after a few meters, Fitz couldn't hold back his laugh.

"Hey I'd like to see you run in those!" She said with an offended tone but after Fitz stopped her from falling, even she had to admit that she probably looked a bit ridiculous and started laughing as well. As they were running up the other side, the stairs were quite slippery so Jemma grabbed on to him a bit tighter and even slipped her hand in his and he tried his best to hide the small grin that made its way on his face.

When they got to the platform, the train was still at a stop and they managed to get in. They flopped down on the closest seats, laughing breathlessly.

"Thank you!" She said with a big smile, giving his hand one last squeeze before letting go of it. "I stand by what I said earlier, I would have most likely killed myself running in those stupid shoes in this weather" She added and he grinned back.

"It was my genuine pleasure ... and I needed the exercice anyway" He answered.

Once they caught their breath, they finally realized that they really didn't need to run because the train was still at a stop.

"Hu ... Why aren't we moving yet?" She asked, visibly confused.

"Yeah that's weird ... also looks like we're the only people left in this train ..." He said as he looked both ways and didn't see another passenger. He got up to see if there was anyone or anything on the platform that could explain that and that's when he saw someone wearing the very recognizable outfit of a train driver.

"Hey guys, you have to get off!" The man said with a very strong New-Yorker accent. "there's been an accident down the line 'cause of the snow, traffic won't start again before morning!" He added before quickening his pace again to get out of the platform.

"What ..." Fitz started as he turned to Jemma and when he saw the look of pure despair on her face, he almost felt worse for her than he felt for himself. He offered his hand once more to help her stand up and she took it gladly. "Come on, let's get out before we get stuck inside a train on top of everything!" He said and she gave him a small soft smile. Not that he would mind getting stuck with her anywhere.

So I don't know how believable it is that a train line would stop working because of the snow in New York but it is totally believable where I live (Paris) so for the sake of the story I had in mind, I decided to apply it to New York!

Oh and the "double O seven" look for Fitz is obviously from the episode Singularity because he looked gorgeous dressed like this and I really think they should give him more occasions to wear that suit in the show ^^